3.Radiation ability

Beijing tops the radiation ability ranking with an overwhelming lead, and occupies the first place in all the sub-dimensions. It is followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Xi’an in the top 10 ranking. Compared with the 2018 ranking, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Nanjing have secured their places, Guangzhou and Wuhan have moved higher, Chengdu and Xi’an have slightly moved down, and Tianjin dropped out of the top 10 list.

What makes core cities unique is their radiation ability on their neighboring regions. Therefore, radiation ability is key to the definition of a core city, and an indicator for a city’s influence on its neighboring regions and even the whole country. This dimension evaluates a city’s radiation ability in terms of industry, technology, higher education, as well as life services.

So we have established three sub-dimensions, namely industry radiation, sci-tech and higher education radiation, as well as life services radiation, which are supported by 9 major indicators including manufacturing radiation, IT industry radiation, finance radiation, sci-tech radiation, higher education radiation, culture, sports and entertainment radiation, healthcare radiation, wholesale and retail service radiation, and catering and hotel radiation.

(1)Industry radiation

The top 10 cities in this ranking are Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xiamen. Among the 36 core cities, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Ningbo have secured their places in 2018, while Guangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hefei, Haikou, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Xining, Urumqi, Nanning and Hohhot have moved higher in the ranking compared with the previous year.

(2)Sci-tech and higher education radiation

Beijing tops this ranking with a huge lead, and is followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an. Compared with 2018, Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Dalian, Hefei, Shenyang, and Taiyuan have maintained their places, while Shenzhen, Nanjing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Jinan, Qingdao, Ningbo, Changchun, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Shijiazhuang and Yinchuan have moved higher.

(3)Life services radiation

Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu top this ranking, with Beijing having an overwhelming lead. Following them, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Xi'an round out the top 10. The top 6 cities in the 2018 ranking have secured their places in the new ranking. Nanjing moves from 10th to 7th, while Shenzhen drops from 7th to 8th.